Tuesday, December 31, 2019

Species Self-Annihilation by Denialism


I saw an article in the Wall Street Journal early December indicating that songbirds have shrunk in size:

Hotz, Robert Lee (2019, December 5). Songbirds shrink in size, study finds. The Wall Street Journal, p. A3.

The article cites a 40 year study that attributes the shrinking size to warming temperatures:
Brian C. Weeks, David E. Willard, Aspen A. Ellis, Max L. Witynski, Mary Hennen, Benjamin M. Winger (2019). Shared morphological consequences of global warming in North American migratory birds.bioRxiv 610329; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/610329 Now published in Ecology Letters doi: 10.1111/ele.13434

Increasing temperatures associated with climate change are predicted to cause reductions in body size, a key determinant of animal physiology and ecology. Using a four-decade specimen series of 70,716 individuals of 52 North American migratory bird species, we demonstrate that increasing annual summer temperature over the 40-year period drove consistent reductions in body size across these diverse taxa. Concurrently, wing length – which impacts nearly all aspects of avian ecology and behavior – has consistently increased across taxa. Our findings suggest that warming-induced body size reduction is a general response to climate change, and reveal a similarly consistent shift in an ecologically-important dimension of body shape. We hypothesize that increasing wing length represents a compensatory adaptation to maintain migration as reductions in body size have increased the metabolic cost of flight. An improved understanding of warming-induced morphological changes, and their limits, are important for predicting biotic responses to global change.
Møller, A., Bonisoli-Alquati, A., Rudolfsen, G., Mousseau, T. (2011). Chernobyl birds have smaller brains. PlOS One, 6(2), e16862, 1-6. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0016862.
H. J. Muller demonstrated that genetic damage incurred in one generation is transmitted through germ line cells across generations, with too many mutations ultimately being expressed in genetic instabilities, mosaicism, and potential species extinction (see my discussion here and ongoing research here NIH Director's Blog on Genetic Mosaicism ).
 
Today, we know that epigenetic changes can also occur, impacting expression of genes (gene function) without observable damage to DNA structure.
2G & 3g FINDINGS (excerpted):
The NTP studies found that high exposure to RFR (900 MHz) used by cell phones was associated with:  
Clear evidence of tumors in the hearts of male rats. The tumors were malignant schwannomas. 
Some evidence of tumors in the brains of male rats. The tumors were malignant gliomas. 
Some evidence of tumors in the adrenal glands of male rats. The tumors were benign, malignant, or complex combined pheochromocytoma.

It was unclear if tumors observed in the studies were associated with exposure to RFR in female rats (900 MHz) and male and female mice (1900MHz).

The results are based on NTP’s four categories of evidence that a substance may cause cancer: clear evidence (highest), some evidence, equivocal evidence, no evidence (lowest).

4 comments:

  1. Temperatures in the first fifty years or so of the 20th century were higher than in the remaining years of the century. It is disappointing to see what might be good science vitiated by bad science. I tend to be very skeptical of contemporary science for those sorts of reasons. In the case of climate change one must consult the raw data rather than "expert" presentation of that data. One needs to note that in earlier times thermometers were often out in fields and are now near large parking lots and buildings.

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    Replies
    1. In the eleventh century the Mutazalites were finally defeated. They were adherents of a school of Muslim philosophy that admired and followed the Greeks. At this point rational ideas like cause and effect were cast out and scientific progress in Islam came to a halt.

      Today in the West the progressive Democrats seem a lot like those who took over in Islam. Like the opposing party who had disdain for the Greeks, the Progessives avoid rational discourse and ignore facts that do not conform to their dogmatic beliefs. Where will this end?

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    2. RIGHT WING POLITICAL PROPAGANDA FROM THE TROLL WHO IS AN ADMITTED AUTHORITARIAN AND FASCIST

      They always neglect the fact that most radionuclides are pyrophoric especially uranium, plutonium, radioactive lead, thorium, radium, iridium, and alkali metals like strontium90, cesium137, rsodium. The world is flooded with mined, fracked and artificial radionuclides since they stared playing with nuclear. Minute amounts of thorium and uranium dust and other radionuclide can set off wildfires and fires. Pyrophoric plutonium caused the rocky flats mess and WIPP fires
      Look at the INL wildfire that did 900,000 acres. The Wipp fires that happened when plutonium ignited kitty litter. The Santa Susana Fire that burned ventura county.
      The Chernobyl WildFires, the Mayak Wildfires, the Hanford wildfires. There are many more. The primary reason depleted uranium is used in ammunition is because of the heat it generates on impact, from it's

      Pyrophoricity.
      Wikipedia

      https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyrophoricity

      This article needs additional citations for verification.

      The pyrophoricity of hydrides and oxides forming on the surface of plutonium can cause it to look like an ember under certain conditions.

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    3. A pyrophoric substance (from Greek: πυροφόρος, pyrophoros, 'fire-bearing') is a substance that ignites spontaneously in air at or below 54 °C (129 °F) (for gases) or within 5 minutes after coming into contact with air (for liquids and solids).[1] Examples are iron sulfide and many reactive metals including plutonium and uranium, when powdered or thinly sliced. Pyrophoric materials are often water-reactive as well and will ignite when they contact water or humid air. They can be handled safely in atmospheres of argon or (with a few exceptions) nitrogen. Class D fire extinguishers are capable of dealing with pyrophoric fires.

      UsesEdit

      The creation of sparks from metals is based on the pyrophoricity of small metal particles, and pyrophoric alloys are made for this purpose.[2] This has certain uses: the sparking mechanisms in lighters and various toys, using ferrocerium; starting fires without matches, using a firesteel; the flintlock mechanism in firearms; and spark-testing ferrous metals.

      Pyrophoric materialsEdit

      SolidsEdit
      White phosphorus, the original "phosphor"[citation needed]
      Alkali metals (lithium, sodium, potassium, rubidium, caesium), including the alloy NaK
      Finely divided metals (iron,[3] aluminium,[3] magnesium,[3] calcium, zirconium[citation needed], uranium, titanium, bismuth, hafnium, thorium, osmium, neodymium)
      Some metals and alloys in bulk form (cerium, plutonium)
      Alkylated metal alkoxides or nonmetal halides (diethylethoxyaluminium, dichloro(methyl)silane)
      Potassium graphite (KC8)
      Metal hydrides (sodium hydride, lithium aluminium hydride, uranium trihydride)
      Methane tellurol (CH3TeH), an analog of methanol where tellurium replaces oxygen
      Partially or fully alkylated derivatives of metal and nonmetal hydrides (diethylaluminium hydride, trimethylaluminium, triethylaluminium, butyllithium), with a few exceptions (i.e. dimethylmercury and tetraethyllead)
      Copper fuel cell catalysts, e.g., Cu/ZnO/Al2O3[4]
      Grignard reagents (compounds of the form RMgX)
      Used hydrogenation catalysts such as palladium on carbon or Raney nickel (especially hazardous because of the adsorbed hydrogen)
      Iron sulfide: often encountered in oil and gas facilities where corrosion products in steel plant equipment can ignite if exposed to air
      Lead and carbon powders produced from decomposition of lead citrate[5][6]
      Uranium is pyrophoric, as shown in the disintegration of depleted uranium penetrator rounds into burning dust upon impact with their targets; in finely divided form it is readily ignitable, and uranium scrap from machining operations is subject to spontaneous ignition[7]
      Neptunium
      Several compounds of plutonium are pyrophoric, and they cause some of the most serious fires occurring in United States Department of Energy facilities[8]
      Petroleum hydrocarbon (PHC) sludge
      LiquidsEdit
      Diphosphane
      Metalorganics of main group metals (e.g. aluminium, gallium, indium, zinc and cadmium etc.)
      Triethylborane
      tert-Butyllithium
      Diethylzinc
      Triethylaluminium
      Hydrazine is hypergolic with oxidants like dinitrogen tetroxide or hydrogen peroxide, but not truly pyrophoric.

      GasesEdit
      Nonmetal hydrides (arsine, phosphine,[i] diborane, germane, silane)
      Metal carbonyls (dicobalt octacarbonyl, nickel carbonyl)
      Notes

      External links

      Last edited 2 months ago by OwenBlacker
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